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March 19, 2009

The Myrtle Miracle?

myrtle-avenue-sign-0309.jpg"Gentrification is always a hot topic and Myrtle Avenue has actually done a better job at achieving a blend of the new and the old. While there are still liquor stores with bullet proof glass, lots of bodegas and 99 cent stores, there’s also Gnarly Vines, Jive Turkey, Root Stock & Quade and Barking Brown. Castro’s is probably the best Mexican around and Zaytoon’s tops the Middle Eastern category. I’m not a huge fan of chain stores but I gotta admit Walgreen’s is convenient. While I’m loyal to Moe’s, Rope does have better beers on tap and a backyard. Vesper is the Frank’s of Myrtle (well you can’t really have a Frank’s anywhere else but you get the point). Pillow Cafe is the Smooch of Myrtle. The only thing lacking on Myrtle Avenue is transportation." — The Real Fort Greene




Posted by Brownstoner at 11:14 AM | Comments (37)
Categories: Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Quality of Life

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Comments

This kind of mix of old and new is what I am hoping (read "hoping" not "expecting") will happen eventually on Fulton in Clinton Hill. One would think with all the bus and subway traffic on Fulton there would be a built in market.

In re the contents of this article, Rope is a really great bar and there are lots of good restaurants and other hangs on Myrtle, while the old school stuff has survived as well, at least to a degree. Pretty cool urban stretch considering its reputation in the 80's.

Posted by: wasder at March 19, 2009 11:19 AM

I agree. Myrtle is a very nice street, especially around Washington. I've lived nearby for the past couple years and even then have seen a nice change and some good businesses open. The big new condo/rental buildings will only improve things, also looking forward to the greenway near the Associated and the new Pratt building as well.

Transportation does suck, that's why I ride my Bike into the city as much as I can.

Posted by: Dan76 at March 19, 2009 11:23 AM

Last time I walked down Myrtle a couple weeks ago I was amazed at how many buildings the hasids were putting up.

i went to the rope a year or two ago and really enjoyed it.

Posted by: Santa at March 19, 2009 11:28 AM

Castro's is decent, Rope sucks. The bars on franklin are better.

Posted by: route52 at March 19, 2009 11:28 AM

castro's is *meh* - I recommending hitting the little mexican place just past Classon on the south side of Myrtle. Don't even know the same but damn good

Posted by: lalaland at March 19, 2009 11:33 AM

Oh and Ganni's a little further down is great!

Posted by: route52 at March 19, 2009 11:34 AM

what is wrong with 99 cents stores and bodegas? some of us can't afford "new ft greene" and might need something at a bodega or a 99 cent store. last thanksgiving i realized i didn't have a pan for the turkey- or enough milk and-shock!) so i sent the kid over to murder ave to pick stuff up.
as good as castros is(and it is), i like the joint off adelphi. the name escapes me but that little dive makes a killer $2:00 taco and tamales to die for.plus horchata! does anyone remember the italian resturants/bakeries that were on myrtle? man!i still miss those.
now, can we do something about the stank attitude many of our new residents have?

Posted by: ramona at March 19, 2009 11:35 AM

There's the Myrtle avenue bus.
The last time I rode, it was like a scene out of some Third World country where the population is fleeing in advance of some occupation force. It was not lovely. It was enough to put you off public transportation for ever actually.
Without a car, much of that area is pretty inconvenient.

Posted by: Mrs de Dough at March 19, 2009 11:38 AM

Nothing wrong with bodegas and 99 cent stores ramona. This is what lots of people are saying. It appears that there has been gentrification on Myrtle that hasn't cleared out all of the more "old school" businesses and this is to everyone's credit and benefit.

Posted by: wasder at March 19, 2009 11:39 AM

lalaland - you're talking about taqueria tepango - yeah it is pretty good.

Posted by: route52 at March 19, 2009 11:39 AM

There's a Myrtle Avenue bus? I did not know that.

Posted by: Heather at March 19, 2009 11:42 AM

ramona, you GO girl! i agree 100 percent. if it wasnt for bodegas and 99 cents stores i'd have to move out of nyc.

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at March 19, 2009 11:47 AM

There is, or was a few years ago, a bus that goes up Myrtle Ave. It was so oovercrowded and uncomfortable I have never attempted to use it again.

Posted by: Mrs de Dough at March 19, 2009 11:50 AM

Not saying there is anything wrong with bodegas - but please do not cite affordability as one of their benefits - a fair rule of thumb is the poorer the neighborhood, the worse the retail choices are, the higher the markup charged by the local bodega.

Posted by: fsrg at March 19, 2009 11:52 AM

please beware of castro. i went to order a burrito one and saw a bug crawl across the counter. the cashier took a towel, brused the bug onto the floor and proceeded to take my order. my friend and i did an aboutface and hit it out of there. from then on, we referred to the place as 'cast-roach'. perhaps they have gotten better since renovation, but i certainly couldn't tell you.

Posted by: cmontgom at March 19, 2009 11:58 AM

buying food at a bodega can destroy your wallet.

Posted by: Santa at March 19, 2009 11:58 AM

Just have to make sure that the Myrtle Ave Revitalization Project gets credit where it is due. Their small team of urban planners has a lot to do with the sucessful rebirth of Myrtle over the last 5 years.

Posted by: curiositykilledthecat at March 19, 2009 12:06 PM

There are two certainties in life...every restaurant has roaches and bodegas are a giant rip-off.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at March 19, 2009 12:07 PM

"Their small team of urban planners has a lot to do with the sucessful rebirth of Myrtle over the last 5 years."

Anyone know if any of these same people are working on the new Fulton BID?

Posted by: wasder at March 19, 2009 12:09 PM

there are some real jewels on myrtle. and there's something strangely beautiful about the streetlamps -- remniscent of smith street.

i think the major lacking element is sidewalk dining. i emailed the the BID a while ago to try and figure out why this was the case...but apparently there's enough space, just not enough restaurants take advantage of it (and i believe the license is expensive).

i don't mind bodegas here and there, though i agree the product v. price is staggering. i just don't understand the need to have 3 on the same block, and moreover, how they stay in business...

Posted by: bklynbpr at March 19, 2009 12:39 PM

is there anyone who's a real NYer who really thinks bodegas are cheap??? I love it. also, went to the pioneer on lafayette and grand recently b/c some friends said it had cleaned up and didn't smell like urine anymore. that was true, but their prices for organic products were staggering. I compared a few items afterwards to freshdirect and fairway and in some cases DOUBLE, i.e. pasta sauce 10oz - 10.99 at pioneer, 4.99 at freshdirect. talk about gouging...

Posted by: miss priss at March 19, 2009 1:27 PM

those lamp posts aren't original. you can tell by the garland wrapped around them. the real old lamp posts you sometimes see around the city didn't have those garlands. these repros were brought in to make the area look more cutesy and NYC-authentic. i guess the original style wasn't cutesy enough though, hence the garlands.

Posted by: alohafrombk at March 19, 2009 1:51 PM

The B52 bus that runs on Myrtle is a decent option when one actually comes. It makes an appearance so rarely that I've walked many times from Waverly to Flatbush without encountering a single B52. So public transport is a bit of a problem in that area. The B61 on Park Ave. can be a handy way to get to Williamsburg/ Greenpoint if you hit it right, though.

Posted by: waverly at March 19, 2009 2:26 PM

Lived for 5 years off Myrtle, near the BQE. Rode my bike everywhere because it took so long to get to the subway. Tried all manner of bus and etc. to get around. (Yes, there was and probably still is a bus on Myrtle. One on Flushing, too, that goes to Red Hook, as I recall) Eventually the lack of transpo wore me down. Recently went back and shocked at how much it's changed... But the lack of transpo would keep me from ever going back.

Posted by: meerkatz at March 19, 2009 2:30 PM

This all raises the question of why a corridor with limited public transport thrives while Fulton street with its copious amounts of public transportation languishes...

Posted by: wasder at March 19, 2009 2:37 PM

I used to live on Myrtle and would often take the 54 (Myrtle bus) and 61 (Park Ave bus) from Jay St. when I didn't want to bother with the G - maybe not the best option during the day when the buses were painfully overcrowded, but come 9 or 10PM when I was getting home from work, it was definitely the most efficient option.

Posted by: arod at March 19, 2009 2:45 PM

Those lamp posts were put in just a couple years ago.

Posted by: eh at March 19, 2009 3:08 PM

Wasder that is a great question we've also wondered about. Do you think the unending road construction along that stretch has much to do with it? The street scene is also lacking but maybe with the BID things will pick up faster now.

"This all raises the question of why a corridor with limited public transport thrives while Fulton street with its copious amounts of public transportation languishes.."

Posted by: pierre de taille at March 19, 2009 3:10 PM

Myrtle Avenue's development corresponds in large part to the BID they established several years ago.

Posted by: 1842 at March 19, 2009 4:04 PM

"Myrtle Avenue's development corresponds in large part to the BID they established several years ago. "

Which raises my other question. Does anyone know how closely the Myrtle BID is aligned with the FUlton BID? Are some of the same people running the Fulton BID?

Posted by: wasder at March 19, 2009 4:22 PM

Pratt is also a big part of Myrtle development. the school boarders on Myrtle and the area around there has been somewhat nice for years. also, there is some sidewalk dining on Myrtle at Los Polito's but unfortunately the place is nothing to write home about.

Posted by: werner at March 19, 2009 6:43 PM

And about transportation, yeah public transport is kind of a bummer and usually involves a bus (of which there are actually many though), but it's extremely convenient for cabs from the city. And just to add, there are bus lines running on Flushing, Park, Myrtle, and Dekalb Aves.

Posted by: werner at March 19, 2009 6:46 PM

"This all raises the question of why a corridor with limited public transport thrives while Fulton street with its copious amounts of public transportation languishes"

Fulton Street is not a real shopping strip! it has too many vacant/undevelop lots, triangle & parks, the ballparkhas vacant/shell buildings, etc, we need more development along Fulton to amke it a real shopping strip. I wouldn't count much on the BID to change it.

Posted by: bk8 at March 19, 2009 8:41 PM

I heard a recent lecture on small businesses in "emerging" (cringe) neighborhoods late last year, where the keynote speaker was the president of Pratt. As werner said, they had a great deal to do with the Myrtle BID. It wouldn't have succeeded without Pratt, actually.

Back in the days before Metrocards, when there were 2 fare zones, you could transfer free from the Myrtle Ave bus to the A train station at Jay Street. There used to be an entrance closer to Myrtle. When they changed the streets to build Metrotech, it was all lost. Myrtle also had one of the last elevated "el" lines which ended in 1969. The free transfer was a holdover from the el days.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at March 20, 2009 1:21 AM

I was the other day on Myrtle between Nostrand and Marcy, was amazed how many new projects are coming up... (i think theyre rentals)

Posted by: henri at March 20, 2009 10:32 AM

I was the other day on Myrtle between Nostrand and Marcy, was amazed how many new projects are coming up... (i think theyre rentals)

Posted by: henri at March 20, 2009 10:32 AM

I was the other day on Myrtle between Nostrand and Marcy, was amazed how many new projects are coming up... (i think theyre rentals)

Posted by: henri at March 20, 2009 10:32 AM

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